Bob, Carey and I sailed with Moe on his 1963, 37 foot Chris Craft Apache, from Hartge Marina (West River) beyond Thomas Point Light and back. Wind was blowing a steady 18 to 20 knots from the Northwest, waves were two feet. Mostly sunny which helped with the wind chill. Clocked over 8 knots with a reefed main and a #2 headsail. We were a little over canvassed but we zoomed along easily despite strong gusts. We were the only ones on the Bay except for a 20' RIB skippered by a photographer. He took maneuvered his boat around snapping photos often from almost water level. We'llhave to check out on his Instagram account.
Century Club: Hank Messick
Sunday, January 7, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Having fun on a cold day on the Bay
Friday, January 5, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Providence heads to her Old Town berth
Occasional gust of 6-7 knots but even lighter most of the time.
Monday, January 1, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Lots of movable ballast!
Out in front
Annual DISC race. Cloudy, cold (43F), with an occasional drizzle but fun for the three boats which participated (two were DNS). We took line honors by almost two minutes but the two other boat had high PHRF ratings and corrected ahead of us. Some consolation, I raced with my old (20+ years) dacron sails!
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Bob, Carey, Jason and I sailed north to the New Frederick Douglas Bridge, then around Hains Point to the 14th St Bridge and then a long spinacker run to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge before returning to WSM.
Cloudy and cool (45F) with a breeze ranging between two to eight knots. Waved at the water taxis but no pleasure boats but us were on the water.
Friday, December 15, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
DC waterfront
Beautiful day, high 50s, wind from the W to NW, three to ten knots as we headed up river to DC. Managed to sail along the DC waterfront before the wind shifted to dead ahead and then we slowly ran southward along the Washington Channel. Saw Alacrity slowly heading outbound in the WSM channel when we returned.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Carey at the helm
Sunny and chilly (45F) today but we, Carey and I, timed the tide perfectly. Headed south on and ebbing tide and turned north at Mt Vernon on a flooding tide. Wind was southwesterly from three to eight knots; easy sailing for about 20 miles total.
Friday, December 8, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Carey enjoys the sail
Hank helming while Dave flies the chute
Five to seven knot breeze on a warm (58F) and sunny day. Saw two "sun dogs" each 22 degrees of arc from the sun and a hint of a circumzenithal arc---much fainter than the one we saw on Monday.
Dave and Carey were onboard so we set the spin and ran from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to the 14th Street bridge. Easy sailing!
Monday, December 4, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Saw a Circumzenithal arc!
Carey and I shoved off at noon. Light NE breeze that dropped to one knot at times but the water was flat and we managed to get to the Washington Boundary Channel after three hours! (3 NM).
Luck was with us on the return leg. Wind backed, intensified up to 10 knots, and we reached back to the slip..
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Beautiful warm (mid-50s) afternoon with a southerly six to 12 knot breeze. Unlike earlier in the week, the breeze wasn't gusty and made for easy sailing for Carey and me.
Monday, November 27, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Jibless!
A northerly breeze gusting up to 18 knots was challenging at times esp when raising and dousing the main. The tiller pilot couldn't react fast enough when hit with a gust. Motoring faster might have helped.
Cruised off of Old Town Alexandria under a reefed main sail.